Social smoking carries same heart-disease risks as everyday habit
This large, nationally representative study is the first to look at blood pressure and cholesterol in social smokers. More than 10 percent of 39,555 people surveyed said they were social smokers, meaning they didn't smoke every day. That's on top of the 17 percent who called themselves current smokers. Among current and social smokers (after researchers adjusted for differences in factors including demographics and obesity), about 75 percent had high blood pressure and roughly 54 percent had high cholesterol . "Not smoking at all is the best way to go. Even smoking in a social situation is detrimental to your cardiovascular health," said lead author Kate Gawlik , assistant professor of clinical nursing at The Ohio State University. "One in 10 people in this study said they sometimes smoke, and many of them are young and already on the path to heart disease," she said. Smoking is a risk factor for unhealthy blood pressure and cholesterol and both a...